National Green Tribunal
Dharmesh Shah vs Union Of India on 11 July, 2022
Author: K. Satyagopal
Bench: K. Satyagopal
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI
Original Application No. 82 of 2021 (SZ)
(Through Video Conference)
IN THE MATTER OF
Dharmesh Shah,
R/o No. 92, Thiruvalluvar Nagar,
3rd Street, Besant Nagar,
Chennai- 600090
...Applicant(s)
Versus
1. Union of India
Through the Secretary,
Ministry of Envrionment Forest and Climate Change,
Indira Paryavaran Bhawan,
Jor Bagh,
New Delhi- 110003
2. Central Pollution Control Board,
Through the Member Secretary,
Parisara Bhavan,
East Arjun Nagar
Delhi- 110032
3. State of Andhra Pradesh
Through the Chief Secretary
1st Block, 1st Floor,
Interim Government Complex,
A.P. Secretariat Office,
Velagapudi
4. Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board,
Through the Member Secretary,
D.No. 33-26-14 D/2, Near Sunrise Hospital,
Pushpa Hotel Centre, Chalamalavari Street,
Kastuirbaipet,
Vijayawada- 520 010
5. State of Karnataka,
Through the Cheif Secretary,
Room No. 320, 3rd Floor,
Vidhanasoudha,
Bengaluru, Karnataka- 560001
6. Karnataka State Pollution Control Board,
Through the Member Secretary,
Parisara Bhavan, 49, Church Street
Bangalore- 560001
7. State of Telangana
Through the Chief Secretary
5th Floor,
Burgula Rama Krishna Rao Bhavan, NH 44,
Hill Fort, Adarsh Nagar,
Hyderabad, Telanagana- 500063
8. Telangana State Pollution Control Board
1
Through the Member Secretary
A-3, Paryavaran Bhavan,
Sanath Nagar Rd,
Sanath Nagar Industrial Estate,
Hyderabad, Telanagana- 500018.
9. Union Territory of Puducherry
Through the Chief Secretary,
Main Building, Chief Secretarait,
Goubert Avenue,
Beach Rd, White Town,
Puducherry, 605001
10. Puducherry Pollution Control Committee
Through the Member Secretary
II Floor, PHB Building,
5, Anna Nagar,
Puducherry 606005
11. State of Kerala
Through the Chief Secretary
Government Secretariat,
MG Road,
Palayam
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695001
12. Kerala State Pollution Control Board
Through the Member Secretary,
Pattom P.O.,
Thiruvananthapuram- 695004
13. State of Tamil Nadu
Through the Chief Secretary
Government Secretariat,
Fort St George,
Chennai- 600009
14. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board,
Through the Member Secretary,
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board,
76, Mount Salai,
Guindy, Chennai- 600 032
...Respondent(s)
For Applicant(s): Mr. Rahul Choudhary
For Respondent(s): Ms. Me. Saraswathy for R1
Ms. N. Nathami for R2
Mr. Basu for Ms. Madhuri Donti Reddy for R3 and R4
Mr. Rajat Jonathan Shaw for Mr. Darpan for R5
Ms. R. Renuka Devi for Ms. Yasmeen Ali for R7
Ms. Dayana for Mr. Sai Krishnan forR8
Mrs. Sathya Bhama for R10
Mr. G. Vignesh for Mr. E.K. Kumaraesan for R11.
Ms. V.K. Rema Smrithi for R12
Dr. D. Shanmuganathan for R13
Mr. Sai Sathya Jith for R14.
Judgment Reserved on: 6th July, 2022
Judgment Pronounced on:11th July, 2022
CORAM:
HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE PUSHPA SATHYANARAYANA, JUDICIAL MEMBER
2
HON'BLE DR. SATYAGOPAL KORLAPATI, EXPERT MEMBER
JUDGMENT
Delivered by Justice Smt. Pushpa Sathyanarayana, Judicial Member
1. In Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti & Anr. Vs. Union of India & ors. (2017) 5 SCC 326, the Hon‟ble Supreme Court had issued directions for time bound construction of common effluent treatment plants and for making sewage treatment plants functional. It had also explained the mechanism for implementation of these directions and had emphasised the role of local bodies/municipalities therein. In fact the above mentioned case is listed periodically by the Hon‟ble Apex Court to monitor the follow up action taken by the Pollution Control Boards and the action taken by them.
2. In Para- 15 of the above Judgement which is relevant is extracted below:
"15.Liberty is granted to private individuals and organisations, to approach the Bench concerned of the jurisdictional National Green Tribunal, for appropriate orders, by pointing out deficiencies in implementation of the above directions."
3. On the strength of the above directions issued, the above Original Application is filed by the applicant impleading all the State Pollution Control Boards coming within the jurisdiction of the Southern Zone Bench, National Green Tribunal including the Central Pollution Control Board and seeking a direction to all the State Governments and the Union Territories to install and upload on their websites a proper and effective Online Continuous Emission Monitoring System (herein referred to „OCEMS‟) which is easily accessible to the public. The prayer also included accessibility of the raw data and also the historic data be made available for the public use. Additionally the applicant also has prayed for a direction to the Central Pollution Control Board to prepare a central repository of OCEMS data from all the States and host the same on its website as the same would be useful in developing national/regional policies on air quality in industrial areas and critically polluted areas.
4. After notice to the respondents, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, who is also 12th respondent had filed its reply stating that OCEMS for the State of Kerala was made live in the year 2016. Thus implementing the above referred monitoring system in the year 2016 itself and the Board has already taken steps to bring all the major industrial units and continuous ambient air quality monitoring system in OCEMS. Presently, 3 43 sites are connected to the OCEMS of which 06 are continuous ambient air quality monitoring system and the rest are industries. The 12 th respondent also has furnished the list of industries in its annexure. The reply further states that provisions have been made for the public to access the real time emission data through the site specifically provided for without any registration or login procedure. The site has also made available the historical data to the Board officials only from the inception of the OCEMS. It is also specifically mentioned that public can also access the system and keep themselves informed of the present status of the pollution levels for up to 30 days. If the public is unable to access or if the OCEMS is shown as in-active or offline, it is only due to the server problem with respect to the particular industry. The Kerala Pollution Control Board is also constantly keeping a check on the data and are trying their best to get the updated information from each industry.
5. The State of Telengana also has filed its response through its Member Secretary, Telengana State Pollution Control Board. The State of Telengana also stated that the OCEMS for their State was made live in the year 2017. The provisions for online, real time, continuous emission monitoring has been implemented in 2017 and the Board has taken all the steps to bring all the major units within the OCEMS. The reply has also given an annexure with the list of industries connected to the OCEMS. This State also has provided public access to the real time emission data through a specific site which does not require any registration or login procedure. In so far as historical data is concerned, 30 days historic data can be accessed by the public. However, the historical data is available for the Board officials from the inception of the OCEMS itself. The Telengana State also has specifically stated that reason for showing gaps in the recorded emissions or effluent levels on the portal for the industries is only due to internet/data transmission issues at the industry site location.
6. The Union Territory of Puducherry also has filed its affidavit through its Member Secretary, Puducherry Pollution Control Committee. The said Union Territory had received compliance status report from the entire industrial unit on installation of OCEMS which is provided in the annexure to their report. The report further states that every particular that is required is readily available in the Puducherry Pollution Control Committee website including the historical data as has been required by the applicant.
47. The State of Andhra Pradesh also has furnished the particulars of the compliance of the directions issued by the Hon‟ble Supreme Court. Their report also states that the State Pollution Control Board has been monitoring the release of pollutants from the 17 category industries. The said online monitors are connected to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board servers for monitoring the data against the standards stipulated by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board. The said information is being published on the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board website under the real time pollution monitoring system (RTPMS). Presently, it is stated that the data is being displayed for the past 24 hours duration. Apart from the industrial data, the data of the CAAQMS stations and manual monitoring of ambient air quality and water quality by the Board under the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) and National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP) projects are also connected to this system and disseminated through the website. The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board also seems to have developed a mobile application, namely, „PARYAVARAN‟ to disseminate air quality information across the State which the citizens get upto date information across all the districts in the State of Andhra Pradesh.
8. The 14th respondent, which is the State of Tamil Nadu had filed the report calming to be the pioneer in the nation for establishing the Care Air Centre, centre for accessing online, real time, continuous emission monitoring system, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board headquarters, which module was adopted later by the Central Pollution Control Board also. The report highlights that in a phased manner the entire 17 category of highly polluting industries functioning in the State of Tamil Nadu were linked to the Care Air Centre for online real time continuous emission monitoring system and the list is also furnished along with the report. The State of Tamil Nadu also has complied with the directions of the Hon‟ble Supreme Court and implemented the OCEMS data for public view in the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board portal which also does not require any registration or login procedure. The State of Tamil Nadu also has mentioned that the historical data which is alleged to be not available in the website is available with the Board officials for monitoring the historical data. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is also taking action to make provision to view the historical data in the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board portal for public view by upgrading the software.
5Though for the said purpose, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had sought for three months time at the time of filing the report, even after a year there seems to be no progress. Therefore, we are constrained to direct the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to appropriately upgrade the software with the help of the service provider and make available the historical data on the website provided for in compliance with the directions of the Hon‟ble Supreme Court within a period of three months.
9. So far as Karnataka is concerned, the applicant himself has stated that the State Pollution Control Board has complied with the direction and the website is active and working and it is also not password protected or requires any registration. The State of Karnataka also seems to have upgraded the historical data available for 30 days barring a few industries.
10. The applicant also has filed a rejoinder dated 04.07.2022 stating that most of the States have connected the industries to the online system. Though their operation and availability of historical data is not up to date or regular. All the Learned Counsels appearing for the respective States, Pollution Control Boards also assured that the directions issued by the Hon‟ble Supreme Court would be scrupulously followed in its letter and spirit and address any shortfall that may crop up in the process.
11. The Central Pollution Control Board, who is the 2nd respondent, has also filed a status report in which Para-3 refers to the State-wise status of web-links for display of online continuous emission/effluent monitoring system (OCEMS) data. The Central Pollution Control Board has categorically mentioned that the States coming within the purview of the Southern Zone Bench of National Green Tribunal, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Telengana are displaying the OCEMS data in the public domain and specifically stated that the web-link provided by the State of Karnataka is not working. However, the applicant has in his rejoinder has admitted that the website of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board is active and it is not password protected or requires registration, besides, mentioning that the historical data of 30 days is available.
12. From the above discussion, it is evident that the prayer sought for by the applicant for implementation of the directions issued by the Hon‟ble Supreme Court in (2017) 5 SCC 326 are by and large complied with.
6Nevertheless, the direction sought for by the applicant to direct the Central Pollution Control Board to prepare a central repository of OCEMS data from all the States and host the same in its website is concerned, the same was not directed by the Hon‟ble Supreme Court. The judgement had only required each of the State concerned to make provisions for the OCEMS and display the emission levels in the public domain. The Central Pollution Control Board seems to be monitoring the implementation of the said direction as is evident from the status report filed by them. Therefore, there is no specific direction need be given in this application.
13. Before we part with the case, the time line given for the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to take steps to update the display of the historical data be strictly followed and report to this Tribunal. If the same is not done, it is open to the applicant to bring it to the knowledge of this Tribunal.
14. In light of the above directions and observations, the application is disposed of.
............................................................J.M. (Smt. Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana) .......................................E.M. (Dr. Satyagopal Korlapati) Internet - Yes/No All India NGT Reporter - Yes/No O.A. No. 82/2021(SZ) 11th July, 2022. (AM) 7 Before the National Green Tribunal Southern Zone (Chennai) O.A. No. 82 of 2021 Dharmesh Shah Vs. Union of India and Ors.
O.A. No. 82/2021(SZ) 11th July, 2022. (AM) 8